1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the furniture art and more particularly to a novel table construction and a furniture combination including the table and a bench seat which are uniquely constructed and arranged to facilitate cleaning the floor below the table.
2. Prior Art
One common form of dining facility for both private dwellings and public dining establishments consists of a bench seat and table. In many such dining facilities, the table base rests on or is fastened to the floor and thus interferes with cleaning the floor below the table. A variety of bench seat and table arrangements have been devised to alleviate this floor cleaning problem. In one such arrangement for example, the table base is hinged to the bench seat in such a way that the table may be elevated to a raised position wherein the base is spaced above the floor to facilitate cleaning the floor. When the table is lowered to its normal position of use, the base rests on the floor to provide a firm support for the table. My co-pending application Ser. No. 371,168, entitled BENCH SEAT. Now U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,830 describes a bench seat and table combination of this kind.
Another type of bench seat and table combination which alleviates the above-mentioned floor cleaning problem utilizes a table base which is attached cantilever fashion to the bench seat with the bottom of the base spaced above the floor to permit cleaning the floor below the table. This type of bench seat and table combination presents the advantage over the hinged table configuration of greater simplicity, reduced cost, and elimination of the necessity of raising and lowering the table. The cantilevered table arrangement, however, has one disadvantage with which this invention is concerned. This disadvantage resides in the fact that the cantilevered table base is not supported on the floor below the table top and hence must be made quite rugged to withstand the loads exerted on the table in use. Even with such a rugged base construction, however, the cantilevered tables are sometimes damaged due to excessive forces or loads on the table.
The present invention provides an improved bench seat and cantilevered table combination which avoids this disadvantage of the existing cantilevered table arrangements. As will become evident from the ensuing description, however, the cantilevered table construction of the invention, while intended primarily for use with a bench seat to provide a dining facility, may be used by itself as a general purpose table which may be attached to a supporting structure other than a bench seat, such as a wall.